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Is biking on streets congested with moving vehicles dangerous?
I believe it’s an example of “Natural Selection”.
“Is biking on streets congested with moving vehicles dangerous?”
Coming from our resident Troll-in-Training, not sure if this is a serious question?
Giving you the benefit of the doubt, the simple answer is no more dangerous than running into a litvish shul waving a yellow flag and singing “Yechi Hamelech H’Moishiach”.When my wife was pregnant with our first born i made a conscious decision to stop biking.
Gadolhadorah
I know it was meant as a lighthearted attempt at humor, but I still feel I must protest.
As a proud “Litvak”, I take umbrage at the insinuation that I would attack someone who comes into my Shul waving a yellow flag and singing “Yechi…”
What I (and, I think, just about everyone else who Davens at the same Shul) would do is either ignore the guy completely, or give him a friendly greeting and offer him a drink or something (depending on what else I was doing at the time).
I certainly would not take any action against the unfortunate fellow.
Is biking on congested streets dangerous? Well, how about driving or walking on congested streets?
As long as you stay aware of your surroundings, obey the rules of the road, and are honest with yourself about your abilities and limitations,you should be just fine.CatchYourself: Point well taken since most litvish are peace-loving, non-violent and ohev yisroel metchen, even when it comes to a moishichist invasion of their space. An alternative risk assessment analogy would be “about as safe as wearing a Hillary 2024 teeshirt at a MAGA rally”.
No, wrong venue again. And your implications are once again obnoxious and misplaced. Can’t you just cut it out.
Syag: If someone is asking whether riding a bike through traffic on congested city streets is “dangerous”, than you have to find your own analogy to convey the level of risk.
@Gadol: As dangerous as waving a American flag at a Black Lives Mattes rally, because that really happened
You can be humorous and friendly at the same time.
Try something like, “as dangerous as crawling across the African Savannah in a sheep costume.”
Here’s a good rule of thumb: Try replacing the subject of the joke with your own group. If you would find the “joke” offensive, don’t use it on anyone else, either.
Example: “About as safe as wearing a “Blue Lives Matter” t-shirt to a ‘mostly peaceful protest’ about the death of George Floyd.”
R’ Asher Weiss in an August lecture discusses what levels of danger is allowed. His conclusion, I think, is that a “1 in 1000” (figuratively) dangerous situation is allowed provided the person is in control of the situation and is following safety measures, i.e. ok to ride a boat (with a life jacket), ride a bike (with a helmet). At the same time, it is not always an issue of percentage, but of numbers. That is, if 1% of women are at risk during birthing, we need to be careful. Given the large numbers involved, being careful will save, say, 100 lives (don’t think “it is only 0.1%”). He applies same logic to COVID.
Applying this to riding bikes in the city – 1) you are not fully in control, as you are at mercy of drivers and helmet is not going to protect from them, 2) think of psychology of a person who is going to do that – can you guarantee that they’ll stay safe (R’ Weiss starts lamenting how careless religious community in Israel is, and how many accidents happen)
When our oldest were small, we had a neighbor, an avid and a very experienced biker. He was hit by a truck, had a major operation and a titanium implant in his leg. My wife stopped teaching kids biking. No, not after she heard about an accident. Only after we asked the neighbor how he is doing, and he said it will be a couple of months before he feels good enough to bike again.
I’m a driver , jogger and a bicyclist ( obviously not at same time ) and I find that many bike riders don’t follow the rules of the road or use common sense, thus putting themselves at risk.
Pre pandemic , I would walk from Penn Station to 16 st to see my doctor. I wish I had a dollar for every bike riding the wrong way against traffic, running red lights. riding on the sidewalk or listening to music on headphones.i actually saw one guy texting while riding .
Can drivers be careless? Absulutely but since a bicycle offers little protection in a collision with a car, in behooves a cyclist to be extra cautious and aware of their surroundingsNo, I don’t. Too many cars,trucks, busses and pedestrians. When I ride locally I avoid major streets even if it means taking a longer route. I also, weather permitting and when there is daylight, ride by bike to minyan weekday mornings.
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